The resurrection brings life into the heart of the matter. I know this is nothing new, but as Paul says at the beginning of I Corinthians 15, he feels the need to 'remind' them of this important truth. Without the resurrection we are useless, the most pitied of all the people in the world.
It seems important to Paul to stress the bodily resurrection of Christ - as if a spiritual resurrection would not have been enough. I've been really thinking about this lately. Why is it so important that it was His body? Wouldn't a spiritual resurrection have accomplished the same purpose?
I think part of the reason is because 'in the beginning' God breathed life into lifeless matter. It was part of His original plan, and if there was only a spiritual resurrection, and we aren't raised bodily (in some way that I don't understand) then the Cross is only a partial victory.
When Christ is raised bodily, and we are raised with Him, life again is breathed into matter, the two worlds are intersected in a wonderful, victorious way. There is a true redemption of His creation. One that it is "groaning" for (Romans 8) and one that is fulfilling in every way, one that we can now be part of as we bring a 'resurrection mentality' into the matter that we interact with on a daily basis. Physical beings (and even places) can be redeemed, restored to the original intention.
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